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Saturday, August 22, 2009

beets, beets, beets

Ok, before I even get into anything food related, I'm just going to go on for a bit about the fact that I feel really down right now. It's an easy kind of down in that it has one specific cause and one specific cure. For the past week or so our bathtub has been blocked up. Nothing too bad, just you know, your feet get a little bath while you're showering. WELL.Thursday it STORMED. Like, there were tornados nearby! That's insane! We don't have enough good weather to ever make tornados ok. And thursday night, our bathtub had a lot of other weird stuff in it. It was gross, we were worried the pipes overflowed and backed up or something. Well, this morning I wake up to find more gross gunk in the bathtub, and that's when I realize, the KITCHEN SINK is backing up into the bathtub, and then because the bathtub is plugged, it's not draining! There was a BLUEBERRY in my bathtub today! Very upsetting. Doubly so as I really need a shower. Sigh. Luckily I have a very handy husband, who used to be a plumber. So he's seeing if there's anything he could do. However, apparently our walls are wood and floors concrete, which is incredibly sketchy and is make it a little close to impossible for him to fix the matter. The whole matter is simply stunning in the sheer horror of it all.

Right, beets. I tried one once as a kid, and wasn't the biggest fan, so I never ate them again. Then, this summer I decided I should like them. I tried a couple of dishes that featured beets and enjoyed them. However, then I bought beets. Now, having had them in my life VERY briefly and long ago, I have never bought a beet in my life. They were not nice; my husband likened them to eating a raw potato, I used the analogy of taking a bite of dirt - and not the good kind - to sum up the whole experience. But, dedicated to liking them, and given their incredible health benefits, I was determined to try again.

I asked a lot of people about how it is best to prepare beets. After the trauma of the first attempt at beets, and knowing that I was trying again, my husband also inquired about the matter. Mention raw beets and many people have the same reaction - an unpleasant one. I don't think I've ever seen so many expressions of extreme distaste as in the past week. Many people, including my mom, swear that raw beets are solely good if part of a carrot-beet salad.

As my husband and I were still undecided on whether we even like beets, I played it safe and used cooked beets for this recipe.

Beet gnocchi with raw cashew pesto cream

beet gnocchi
Beets, peeled and sliced
cashew cream (cashew, soaked and rinsed, blended with water until it forms a thick cream)
flour (I used a blend of brown rice four, potato starch and tapioca starch)

In a frying pan, saute beets with a bit of water until soft. If you have the chance to steam instead, do it! Less of the good healthy stuff will be cooked away.

Blend in a food processor.

Strain through a mesh sieve, pushing lightly on the processed beets to squeeze out the juice.

mix with the cashew cream and flour until it forms a dough. You don't want it to be too sticky, and it should be easy to shape.

Roll into tubes, cut off pieces and press lightly with a fork

Boil lightly salted water and cook gnocchi for 3-5 min, until they float

I kinda chuckled when you said there was a blueberry in your tub. I thought it would make a great cartoon comic strip somehow. Don't ask me where that comes from I do not know.

Just read up on health benefits of beets tonight. I was already boiling mine without the skins for about ten minutes. I love beets. Grew up on them as a kid I think because of my grandma who loved them so eh.

My neighbor downstairs is growing them in his garden and I have always thought to myself that these must contain a lot of nutritional value. I have to say I probably will stick to not over steaming and not pealing them as a mainstay because they are so beneficial. I would not be apposed to trying this recipe. Sounds delicious